Chill winds swept the bleak foothills of the Bearpaw Mountains that September 30th
in 1877 when the troops of Col. Nelson Miles swooped down on the weary Nez Perces.
Digging into the coulees, the besieged Indians held on for five agonizing days. On the
peace who had merely asked for justice,
stood alone.
It is cold, and we have no blankets. The lit
tle children are freezing to death. My people,
some of them, have run away to the hills, and
have no blankets, no food. No one knows
where they are-perhapsfreezing to death. I
want to have time to look for my children,
and see how many of them I canfind. Maybe
I shallfind them among the dead. Hear me,
my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and
sad. From where the sun now stands I will
fight no more forever.
onel Miles that they would be sent back to
Idaho, Joseph surrendered 87 men and 331
women and children. The Army confiscated
their weapons, 1,500 horses, and about 300
saddles. Once prosperous people, they were
now destitute.
And homeless. Officials in Washington,
D. C., countermanded the surrender terms and
decided that the Nez Perces should be impris
oned in Kansas and then sent to a reserva
tion in Oklahoma. Miles apologized to Joseph.
The saddened leader said simply, "When will
the white man learn to tell the truth?"
...
the climate killed many of us. All the
newborn babies died, and many of the old
people too.... We were always lonely for our
old-time homes.... No mountains, no springs,
no clear runningrivers. Thoughts came of the
Wallowa where I grew up.... Of tepees along
the bending river.... From the mountainfor
ests, voices seemed calling.I felt as dreaming.
Not my living self.
-Y EL LOW WOLF
K SAS AND OKLAHOMA were for
eign country to these mountain people.
Many of them died of malaria and of
loneliness perhaps impossible for a white
National Geographic,March 1977
430